Are You Cheating Yourself Out Of Your Weekends?

The weekend is here! Hooray!! Finally, some relax time is on the horizon. Time away from the hustle and bustle of every day work life. Time to unwind … laze around … hang loose … put your feet up. You know … take a break – a real break – from work.

But wait. What is that lurking around the edges of this relaxed state?

Even … some really really important thingy you really should have gotten done but just kinda ran out of time (or interest)?

It’s hard to relax when all this stuff is clogging up your head. You may be physically present for your family, your friends, or even your attempt at ‘me’ time, but your head is still at the office.

When you do this, you are …

CHEATING YOURSELF OUT OF YOUR WEEKENDS!!

Sorry, I didn’t mean to shout. But seriously, you need to stop doing this to yourself.

You need to set yourself up for a truly relaxing weekend.

Try this: Prepare for Monday on Friday!

Use part of your Friday afternoon to close things off and prepare for the following week.

It’s a nice way to transition from a busy work-week to personal down time. And just think how good you’ll feel knowing you’re good to go come Monday morning.

Here’s a few suggestions for you …

Look back Review your past week and gather up any action items still undone and move them into the following week – block off some chunks of time so that you can actually get this stuff done.

Look ahead Have a look at what’s coming up the following week. What commitments, projects or meetings do you need to prepare for? What do you need to prepare? Organize it so that you can get to doing the actual work when the time comes.

Pick the one thing What’s the single most important thing you need to get done? Put it first on your list and make sure you make time in your calendar to do it. Checking that one thing off will set the tone for the rest of the week.

Be realistic Once you’ve done all this, make sure your schedule is realistic. Ideally you need to keep about 40 to 50% of your week available for the unexpected. You KNOW it’s gonna happen, so you may as well be sure to allow time and flexibility for it.

Decide to do it And finally … be firm with yourself. In the end, leaving work behind – mentally and physically, is up to you. You have to want to do it, decide to do it, and then do it. And keep on doing it until it becomes the new normal for you.

A little bit of preparation will help send you home as the kind of person your family and friends want to see – the kind of person that’s relaxed and present and who spends time and energy with them.

And the added bonus of doing this on Friday means Monday morning is already planned out and you can breeze through your tasks quickly and efficiently.

Georgina Forrest is a Productivity Coach & Organizing Specialist at Smartworks! Enterprises Inc. in Red Deer, Alberta. Her credentials include Certified Professional Organizer (CPO®), Organizer Coach, and membership with Professional Organizers in Canada (POC) where she has attained Gold Leaf status – a designation acknowledging her as an experienced professional organizer. Her specialties are geared toward increasing productivity, streamlining administration and decreasing stress in the workplace. She will teach you how to manage your time, space and information so you can be more effective and efficient at work. Additionally she offers training programs, productivity coaching and time management-related presentations.

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Organizing doesn’t need to be difficult …

Georgina Forrest specializes in helping people learn the principles of organizing and developing good work practices, so that you can work in the kind of stress-free environment that you’ve always dreamed of. She will show you how, by simply implementing a few easy systems, you can ease your mind and increase your personal efficiency. And she’ll make it a fun experience for you.